Online Florist Myths – Debunked

Hello, fans! This week we’re talking about something very important that a lot of people might not even think about – online florists. With the advent of technology and the modern way of buying things with a single “click,” it only makes sense to bring the floral industry into a technological form. Although the convenience is great, online flower ordering offers some disadvantages, too. Lilygrass wants to outline some facts for you to help you make the most informed decision.

Let’s start with the basics. Someone is having a birthday soon, and you want to get them some nice flowers. However, they live far away. What do you do? You log onto the internet and search for “birthday flowers” or something similar. The first "florists" to pop up are 1800 FLOWERS, Teleflora, From You Flowers, and Pro Flowers but they are not florists at all. They are called "the middle man".

One of the reasons why the pictures online look so different from what is actually delivered is because of how the photographers take the pictures. Think about it. A bouquet is round and is meant to be seen on all sides. However, a picture can only be viewed on one side. The photographers stage the flowers all on one side. It seems tricky, doesn’t it? But they aren’t really lying, because the picture shows that you get a dozen roses. It just shows them all full and vibrant and bunched on one side, which makes you think your entire bouquet will look that way. Your brain think you’re only seeing one side of a full product where all the sides will match, when in reality you’re getting the same amount of flowers, just much more spread out. That’s not all such a big deal in the world of marketing (things like that happen all of the time – like when you go to a restaurant and the picture on the menu doesn’t look like what the server delivers), until you factor in how much these online bouquets are costing.

Let’s jump back up to our scenario from earlier for a minute. Your friend is having a birthday. You look up a florist online and choose one of the first few that pop up. You search the beautiful pictures and find the perfect one! You place your order, type in your credit card information (Wow! It’s more expensive than you thought!). They add costs for special delivery date, timed delivery, chocolate, balloons and ect. Then you wait for your friend to receive their gorgeous gift. But wait. What happens after you place your order? Do you ever see "Teleflora" shops when you drive around town? What about a cute little building with "From You Flowers" on the front of it? You never see these big online florist names on any buildings, because they don’t have any local shops. Here’s how they execute all of their online orders.

One of two things happen. Scenario 1- There is a neat little thing called a “wire service.” When you click "purchase" online, the corporate middle man companies send your floral order over the “wire service” to a flower shop in that area. If the shop has the requested flowers to fill the order, it is accepted and the arrangement is delivered to the recipient. or Scenario 2- the middle man has a company that puts the flowers and vase in a box and it is delivered by UPS or FedEX in the next couple of days.

Now, here’s where things get tricky. There has been a push since the rise of the internet to support local companies rather than to buy things online. Flower shops are a perfect example of why that’s important. Sure, these big businesses need the “smaller” local shops to fulfill their orders and get flowers to the world. But! Remember when we talked about the online prices of flowers seeming too high? That’s because they are. You might be charged $80 for a bouquet from one of those online companies, but that “big” guy might give the local florist only $45 to fill the order and the extra charges for delivery and ect are not passed on. This is where the picture disparity comes into play, as well. You think you’re getting an $80, full, expensive, magnificent arrangement, when in reality the pictures were all pushed to the side, and the florist only has $45 to work with. Isn’t that crazy?! No wonder people are often disappointed with what they receive! Also, the online companies show flowers that are not in season year round and in fine print states that the florist may need to substitute with similar flowers, containers and greenery. (who reads the fine print?). But it’s so easy to fall into this convenient “trap” of online purchasing. The flowers look great (we didn’t even mention Photoshop), you don’t have to pick up the phone or go anywhere, and it can all be done in your underwear if you want!

But here’s the best news of all, Lilygrass can fulfill all of those things for you, too, and get you a better floral piece at a lower cost.

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Lilygrass has a “Staying-out-of-the-Doghouse” program. We will contact you to remind you to place orders on specific dates every year. You set the date and we will call you a week in advance so you STAY OUT OF THE DOG HOUSE! (get it!) It’s super easy to do and doesn’t take very long to set up.

You don’t like to call and talk to people? Or you can’t? I know you’re all very busy, and it’s hard to actually come into the store, too. That’s okay! We have email and the form is on our website.

So what do you do if your friend lives far away? Call, email or stop by Lilygrass flowers and decor and we can call a local florist in that area. That way your special someone gets a better arrangement, you help support a local business, and it cuts out the “middle man.”

We have a great bunch of flower fans who support local and return time and again to our personalized customer service. We love you, Lilygrass friends!